


I Need a Doctor

by Ipodsandstars



Series: Guardian Angels [3]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 22,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ipodsandstars/pseuds/Ipodsandstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Join Bruce, Darcy and the Avengers as they prepare for the arrival of a miniature Banner. In the midst of things Darcy is taken hostage and unable to fight, she awaits her knight in shining armour. Or in her case, a Doctor with an alter ego.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Name It Tony!

**Author's Note:**

> My first full fic, it may be rushed at first but my chapter 4 it slows down, please enjoy and rate

"I'm telling you, name the kid Tony, It's like the best name ever!"  
Darcy groaned, this was the third time in two days that Tony Stark had brought up the subject of baby names and even though she loved hanging around him, he was one self-obsessed bastard. She sat on one of the luxurious sofas on the 20th floor of Stark Towers; this floor was home to her, its where all the Avengers gathered for peace and quiet, though with Stark you'd never get that.

"Tony, for the love of god. Your ego is already big enough; I am not naming my kid after you. I think my husband would agree."

"You just can't handle the truth!"  
"Just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I can't taze you!" Darcy retorted, enjoying their daily arguments like they were siblings, not co-workers.

Darcy had to hold back a small laugh as she looked downwards at something hidden from Tony's view, then she slipped it back into her pocket with a click. Definitely not her taser, but Tony didn't know that.

"Besides Tony, we don't want to know the gender till the big day and quite frankly, you can call us spoilsports all you want."

Tony turned to face the coffee machine in the kitchen part of the room, laughing and making jokes about Bruce to Darcy when a familiar face walked through the elevator doors, his booming voice could have easily been heard from the far end of the room.

"Good afternoon Mrs Banner, Stark."  
Darcy turned her head enthusiastically.

"Hey, Thor! How was Asgard?"

Darcy steadied herself as she got up from her place on the sofa and hugged Thor when he got closer.

"Hey Goldilocks, help yourself if you're hungry." Tony replied, picking up his now-made coffee and heading towards the elevator. "I'm going back to the lab."

Thor returned Darcy's embrace and looked at her in awe.

"Asgard was quite pleasant Miss Darcy; my brother's punishment is not as harsh as I thought it would be, it seems my mother has quite an influence on my father. If it is alright with Doctor Banner I could take you one day to grace the halls, it is truly an amazing place."  
Darcy laughed, swatting Thor with the back of her hand.

"Woman power rules! Just don't hit on me and you'll be safe."

Thor looked at Darcy in confusion, to which Darcy mimicked her husband's alter ego, sending Thor's booming laugh echoing through the place. He turned to the kitchen

"Would you like me to get you something Miss Darcy?" he asked.

Darcy shook her head and smiled.

"No thanks but if you are wondering, Jane should be back anytime soon, she went to meet Selvig, but you can go see if Bruce needs help in the lab, tell him I sent you." "Thank you, Darcy. I will tell Banner, I am sure he will appreciate your concern, you will be alright by yourself won't you?"

Darcy smiled and nodded as Thor left and immediately took out her phone from her pocket. Speed-dialling a number, she put the phone to her right ear and said,

"Jane, Pepper, Plan A is ready to go. I repeat we are ready to go."

"Roger that Darcy, Me and Pep will see you in the taxi downstairs."

Ending the call, Darcy smiled and picked up her small handbag, keeping her taser with her. Stroking her stomach tenderly, she proceeded to the elevator and smiled at the small diamond wedding ring on her left hand.

Tony and Bruce's Lab

Bruce stood hunched over his workspace, eyes focused on a blueprint he was working on and was quite proud of it. A photo stood on his work desk, a memento of one of the best days of his life, his wedding day to Darcy Lewis, now Darcy Banner. He chuckled to himself, it still seemed unreal and now Darcy was 6 months pregnant with his child. The thought was just so beautiful, so heart-warming.

"Oi, daydreamer. What you got there?"

Bruce turned his head to see Tony trying to peek at the small electronic blueprints he was fiddling with.

"Oh just something for Darcy." Bruce replied simply

"Is it a crib?" Tony asked, smiling.

"Damn you." Bruce cursed under his breath but then spoke out loud "Aren't you supposed to be working on something too?"

"Yeah but I can help you with the crib if you want, show me what you got so far."  
Bruce reluctantly sighed and raised his hand above the blueprint, raising it up and projecting it out for the both of them to see.

"It's looking good buddy, but you're gonna need materials and colours-"  
"You suggest red or gold and metal within those next sentences and it's an immediate no."  
"You think I'm gonna endanger the little Avenger?" Tony mock-feigned being hurt.  
Bruce just smiled and carried on talking about his plans to Tony when JARVIS interrupted.

"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt but there is a man with blonde hair wearing armour outside saying Miss Darcy sent him to help and check on Mr Banner?"

Bruce laughed as Tony slapped him on the back and whispered "This should be fun."


	2. The Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper, Darcy and Jane go shopping... with added bonus of a scene at the lab

"Hey is Nat not coming?"

Darcy greeted Pepper and Jane at the taxi, Jane helping Darcy get in and Darcy saw Pepper shake her head.

"Nat and Clint are with Fury at the moment, they should be back this evening. Steve is just getting used to modern day life, so don't be surprised if we bump into him."

Darcy nodded when Jane replied with,

"Who can blame Steve after what he's been through?"

Pepper leaned forward in her seat to the taxi-driver, passing him 20 dollars.

"To the city shopping centre please."

The taxi driver just nodded, pulling the car out of its parked spot and turned to the busy roads, Darcy almost jumped out of her skin when the baby delivered a sharp kick, taking a deep breath in she soothingly rubbed her stomach with both hands.

"Hey, yeah you in there. It's okay. Don't go all Karate Kid on me."

Pepper laughed in her seat, shaking her head as Jane looked on amused at Darcy.

"What happened?"

Darcy grinned at her,

"Miniature Banner just got frightened that's all."

Jane's expression on her face almost sent Darcy into hysterics.

"Wait what, let me get this straight. The baby is scared of a little jumpy car but not afraid of his father?"  
Darcy laughed, jumping to her husband's defence.

"You know how Bruce is around me, so don't give me that crap. Besides, he…he adores us. Just like Tony adores you, Pepper. And Thor to you, Jane."

"You're right." Jane and Pepper both agreed with her and they all relaxed in their seats.

"Did I tell you I set Thor on Bruce and Tony?"

Darcy shifted, trying to settle the baby, but being a Banner, it wasn't having any of it. She sat up straight, her back hurting.

"Darcy, are you okay? We can go back if need be?" Concern etched across Pepper's face. "Is it the baby?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just kid kicking up a fuss. Need to get stuff anyway. Can't believe it though. "

She felt a playful punch in her right shoulder from Jane.

"You're married and having kids before me!"  
"Yeah I know, I'm surprised it isn't you in this situation." Darcy replied.

"You regret it?" Pepper asked, alarmed.

"No no, no! Hell no!" Darcy shook her head, almost going dizzy.

Darcy sighed at the thought of her wonderful husband, her Bruce Banner. She would be with him forever; he was the one for her and Darcy did not regret a single thing. "I wouldn't change it for the world."

Darcy tuned to Pepper.

"I want to be back before Bruce notices I'm gone and worries."

Pepper just rubbed her arm, reassuringly.

"Don't worry."

-Back at the Lab-

An hour and a half has passed since Darcy left.

"For the love of god, Thor! Break one more thing and you are out of here!" Tony Stark yelled. "You're supposed to be helping, not breaking things! That's Banner's job!"

The Asgardian God was so heavy handed, everything he pressed on the devices broke and to be honest, Bruce was the calmest one in the room. In fact, he was enjoying this. After watching Tony take turns alternating between the colours red and several other colours of the rainbow that Bruce didn't think were possible to turn, Bruce politely asked Thor to leave and check on Darcy for him. The god happily obliged and while Thor's back was turned as he was proceeding towards the door, Bruce watched as from the corner of his eye he could see Tony silently punch the air in victory.

When Thor finally left in the elevator, Tony was the first to speak.

"How the hell Jane copes with him, I don't know."  
Bruce simply smiled and turned to his desk again.

"The same way I cope with you."

Bruce's phone rang and he picked it up immediately.

"Hello, may I ask who is ringing?"

"Doctor Banner, this is Natasha Romanoff speaking. We think its best you get the others and go down to Central Manhattan immediately, Barton and I are already on our way.

Bruce paused, unsure so he put Natasha on speaker.

"Whats up Nat, what's happening?" Tony asked, "Chip a nail?"

"This is not a laughing matter Stark. There is a kidnap in process going on downtown with armed robbers, the victim was with two other woman at the time, she's still resisting but I think its best you get there quick."

"Who is it?" Bruce asked.

That's when Thor burst back through the door.

"It's Miss Darcy, she's gone!"  
Bruce felt his grip tighten on the phone and his heart drop. Tony lost for words as well tried to advance for Bruce.

"W-Why, Why Darcy?" Bruce choked out, before his world went black


	3. Part 1 of the Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things from Darcy's view as her day just gets worse...

Darcy laughed as she watched Pepper and Jane as they held up different colours and patterns on baby clothing. Jane found it hilarious when they stumbled upon the Avengers baby section a few moments later. Pepper wasn't surprised as they were famous almost everywhere, she still laughed when Jane picked up an Iron-man suit patterned baby grow.

"Don't show Tony this section if he ever knocks you up, Pep. He's never gonna live it down." Jane smiled.

"His ego would explode!" Darcy added, watching her two friends have fun. She stroked her stomach tenderly, a small smile escaped the corner of her mouth as Pepper picked up one of the Thor themed baby grows and showed it to Jane.

It was then that Darcy noticed a particular coloured baby grow. She walked towards it, her hands caressing the material lovingly, like a mother would. It was black and green striped baby grow, the pattern like a tigers. Jane noticed Darcy had fell silent and both Pep and Jane watched her as Darcy held the clothing to her chest with a smile.

She looked at it again, before looking at her two friends with a wider smile.

"Bruce…"

The words hadn't even left her lips when an explosion rocked the shopping centre and Darcy fell on all fours, feeling Jane throw herself over her to protect her. When the dust cleared, Darcy could see Pepper trapped under a rail of clothing.

"You girls okay!?" she asked as the shopping centre erupted into chaos, everyone fleeing for the exits to be stopped by the incoming army of black armoured men.

Jane immediately crawled over to Pepper, pushing with all her might to get the railing off her. When Pepper was safe, they turned their attention back to Darcy.

"Oh shit..." Darcy cursed; she tried not to scream as she felt her heart pound in her chest and the baby in her stomach getting scared, decided to kick harder and harder. She gripped the baby grow in her hand, her other hand pressed against the marble floor.

"Darcy, we need to get you out of here!" Jane hissed, turning to look at Pepper's shocked face. "I think the baby knows we're in danger. It has Other Guy's strength. We can't just-"

They fell quiet as they heard the men near the entrance and exits start to walk in a march.

"We search for Darcy Banner. We do not leave without her, understand, men?"

"Yes sir!"

Darcy whimpered, fear in her eyes as she heard this, still trying to soothe the baby kicking wildly in her stomach.

"Darcy, can you move?" Pepper asked sweetly.

"Y-Yeah." Biting her lip, tears stinging her eyes, she turned to Jane.

"Whats the plan?"

Before they could discuss it, they could hear the sound of boots getting closer. Darcy pulled her taser out of her bag and passed it to Jane.

"Take this and go." She said, letting the tears fall freely now.

"We aren't leaving you!" Pepper replied as one of the men spotted the three women on the floor. Pepper watched him pull out a radio.

"Hey boss, we got her. Whats your next orders?"

The radio fell silent for a minute before static interfered and a voice broke through.

"The trucks outside. Hurry, Captain America is onto us, he's sent for the others."

Darcy sobbed harder now and Jane screamed as some of the men advanced on them. Helping Darcy to her feet, Pepper nodded at Jane and all Darcy could do was watch as Jane thrust the taser into the neck of one of the men, sending him convulsing to the floor while Pepper punched another in the face, giving them a gap to escape. They could see another two coming their way and an abandoned shopping trolley with heavy tins and boxes in was enough to floor the both of them, as Jane discovered when she pushed the trolley at high speed down another aisle, she then grabbed Darcy and they ran as best as they could towards the exit.

"Nice move, Jane." Pepper replied, shaking as she ran after them.

They knew it was too easy when they got to the exit without being attacked, then as they stumbled through the smoking, damaged exits into the chaotic streets, all hell broke loose.

Two strong men with tight grips had Darcy instantly and bundled her off to one side as they tried to fight back the two screaming women. She knew it was over, in her condition she couldn't fight.

A gasp of pain escaped her lips when in a vain attempt to knock her out, one of the other men punched her in the face, making her nose and lip bleed. When that didn't work as well as he hoped, another two of the armour-clad men with strong grip grabbed her, dragging her towards a huge black truck with a logo on the side. She couldn't make out what it was, but Darcy was smart, she'd seen these types of trucks before. It was an A.I.M truck.

"Get off me you son of a bitch!" Darcy growled, trying to break free.

"You better shut up before we hurt you even worse,"

Darcy gulped and let the men take her in defeat. It was only when a round red, blue and white shield connected with the face of one of her captors was she able to break free and try to make a run for it. She could see out of the corner of her eye Captain America ushering Pepper and Jane to safety, before the barricade of cars at the end of the street blasted open and an all too familiar roar pierced her ears as he came charging through, easily picking off a few of the armour-clad members as he went.

"BRUCE!" Darcy screamed. To say she was 6 months pregnant, Darcy could run quite well despite her ever-growing size. She could feel the baby kick wildly and she knew she'd be sore later; she was surprised she didn't have broken bones.

The Hulk turned, recognising that voice and he smiled, relieved to see her…. And then Darcy was grabbed by even more men.

"BRUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCEEEE!" Darcy let out one final cry before they slapped something over her mouth and she went limp, letting the baby grow she still had in her hand fall onto the concrete.


	4. Part 2 of the Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't mess with the Avengers!

The Hulk didn't care about anyone else at this moment in time, he was furious. His heart roared in his chest as loud as he did, forever pounding at 100mph. How dare them! How they dare they try to take Darcy away from him, he would break every bone in their body and tear them limb from limb! A step up from how he'd treated 'd make sure everyone would pay for hurting his Darcy; he had no doubts about that… he just had to rescue her first.

"BRUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCEEEE!"

The scream cut him like a knife and from where he stood, easily pummelling the men that came at him, he watched as his limp wife was bundled into the back of the truck, the doors closed with a slam and he felt his heart drop into his stomach, but then he was dragged back to reality as the army gave one last assault so the truck could get away. They were coming out of nowhere these guys, there were so many. They were, The Hulk hated to admit it, well planned.

But this was low.

No way was he gonna lose her, he had to stay strong, for her; for their unborn baby.

"BRUCE, DO SOMETHING!" Pepper screamed from the side-lines.

From the corner of his eye The Hulk could see Pepper and Jane being held back in an alleyway by Thor, protecting them.

Knowing they were out the way and safe, it was now time to claim what they came for.

Natasha took out two of the men advancing on Bruce, when she looked up there were another two on the ground with arrows sticking out of their torso and she could feel the breath of Clint on the back of her neck, he grabbed her as she was blown over at the sheer force of Bruce's stomps.

"I got your back." Clint smiled, before ducking as Steve's Captain America shield flew over their heads, slamming into the stomachs of some of the men.

"There's too many! They keep coming out of nowhere!" A cry from Tony Stark could be heard from the sky, before being shot down by a rocket launcher, "SON OF A BITCH!"

He was fine though, because he spotted the 'bastard' that shot him, so he blasted him in the face a few moments later and let's just say, they're gonna be in the burns unit for quite a while. He continued this charade to some of the other men, but as quickly as they fell, they were replaced.

Jane had her head in Thor's chest, not quite believing the turn of events that had so quickly unfolded. Her best friend and assistant, heavily pregnant and wife to the Hulk were now in a back of a truck. Bound and gagged, Jane knew Darcy would kick up a fuss when she awoke. Jane just hoped they would get her out of the truck in time…

"How the hell is this possible!?" Steve was confused at how many men were actually here. He grunted as he was dealt a blow to the face, only for Stark to back him up and blast the guy to the floor.

Nobody had a clue, but they still fought despite what they discovered. Thor punched the men that tried to approach him, Pep and Jane and they backed off, they turned their attention to the huge green man running, well rather, stomping down the street after the truck that started to get away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" the growl of despair was ear-shattering. From Natasha's position in Clint's arms, she couldn't help but whimper as she watched this man; this man she strongly knew was capable of anything, about to lose the one thing that he knew was worth living for and she knew it wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

"C-Clint..." she whispered, her voice hoarse.

The both of them watched as the men slowly retreated, following the main truck in cars of their own. Steve and Stark blasted a few here and there, but they still managed to get away.

The Hulk was still in pursuit of the main truck holding Darcy, when the passenger side opened; one of the men leaned out, holding a rocket launcher. He thought he could take the hit, he thought he'd be the better person… but Bruce's emotions got the better of him and for the first time ever, the Hulk admitted defeat.

Slumping to the floor, the Avengers watched as the Hulk they knew slowly but surely dissolved into a sobbing, emotional mess that was Doctor Bruce Banner.

"Stark, FOLLOW THAT TRUCK! Clint, run into the shop and get Banner some clothes!" Steve yelled.

A few moments later Bruce was fully clothed, but still sobbing.

"How could I let this happen!?"  
"Bruce, you had a reason to be like that, we WILL get her back, I swear of it." Steve replied, keeping his distance just in case Banner had a mood swing again.

Stark had already shot off ahead, determined to find the truck.

After making sure the streets were safe, Thor led Pepper and Jane to see Banner, the both of them were still crying. On the way to Banner, Pepper picked up something as they walked.

Jane tried to say something, but collapsed into Thor once more. Pepper didn't say anything but pushed through the others who advised against it as she got closer to Bruce.

"Pep…" Natasha's soft warning voice trailed after her, Pepper didn't hear but could see from the corner of her eye that Clint had one hand over his bow as a precaution.

"B-B-Bruce..." Pepper, slowly shaking, reached out for the Doctor sobbing, flashes of green crept at his skin as he punched the floor.

"Br-Bruce…" she said again, holding out something in her hand. Bruce looked.

"W-what?" he took the item in his hands, it was dirty from the concrete and dust of the battle but he could see what it was.

It was the baby-grow Darcy had picked up.


	5. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce reminisces on some happy times...

Their room was just as they left it this morning, their bed a tangle of sheets in the centre where they had cuddled up to each other this morning. He smiled painfully, remembering her face as she looked up at him from where her head lay on his chest, his arms wrapped around her fragile frame. She had changed him; she had made him feel whole again.

She'd even confronted him about his past. She read his files, she was worried for him. She cared for him more than anyone else ever would and now she was gone, a cruel twist of fate that pulled at his heartstrings like the devil playing with the scales of life and death.

Looking down at the baby grow in his hands, he felt the tears well up again. His precious Darcy and their unborn baby were now in danger god-knows-where and it was his fault!

Walking over to his side of the bed, Bruce put the baby grow on the side and picked up a baby book, trying to read the sticky notes Darcy had stuck over the cover, one half covered with suggested baby names and Bruce laughed as Darcy had randomly suggested some, then crossed them out, instead replacing them with the words 'They sound like stripper names'.

The other half of the cover contained sticky notes where Bruce could write suggestions. It brought a smile to his face how considerate and organised she was. Bruce went to open the book when he felt something slip between the pages. Catching it as it fell onto the floor, he put the book on the bedside table and brought the item closer to his face to have a look. It was a picture of them on their Wedding Day, their first dance being interrupted by a tipsy Tony, who in the picture could be seen behind the crowd, trying to wrestle a bottle of wine off Thor.

Bruce smiled, he remembered one time he got called out of the lab by Tony to the main floor, only to be met by the sight of his then 4-months pregnant wife on the kitchen floor, the kitchen fridge-freezer's door wide open and she looked around at the gathered crowd innocently, with a spoon in her mouth and a tub of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream at her feet and Tony had his phone out, taking it a picture while Jane had wandered in, rubbing her eyes in disbelief but then laughing as she saw Darcy.

"What!? I was hungry!" she mumbled with her mouth full, giggling. He remembered looking at the clock on the wall and laughing, it was 3am in the morning.

"Come on Darcy, you should be in bed." He remembered saying to her, crouching down to her level and picking up the pot of ice cream, placing the lid back on and closing the fridge-freezer.

"I'm not going without you!" Darcy waved the spoon at him.

He admitted defeat and helped his wife to his feet.

Another time he himself had returned from the lab to check on Darcy and proceeded to their room but found she wasn't there. He checked with Tony and he hadn't seen her, neither had Pepper or Jane. But he was surprised to find her on the rooftop, watching Clint do a little of archery practice.

"Nice aim, Hawkeye." Bruce smirked, watching as Darcy spun round at his voice.

"Bruce! What are you doing here?"

He got closer to her.

"I could ask you the same thing." He looked around them as little snowflakes began to fall at a steady pace before getting thicker. He remembered helping Clint pack away his archery stuff and the three of them rushed inside as the snow began to fall heavier.

"It's beautiful." Darcy whispered,

Bruce's arms wrapped around her waist, his hands resting on her stomach.

"Not as beautiful as you." He whispered before Darcy turned and their lips crashed together.

The memories of Darcy stung him, just the memories. How could he lose her!? Supporting himself against the wooden headboard of the bed, he caressed the picture lovingly.

"I'm coming Darcy, I'm coming." He said, hearing his own voice break.

Looking at his watch, Bruce groaned in frustration, seeing the time as 10pm. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep at all tonight. Getting up, he took one last look at the room before heading to the one place he could formulate a plan. The lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Bruce! Hope you all like the story so far


	6. Not just A Pretty Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theres nothing she can do, yet she still clings onto hope that he's coming

Chapter 6

"Sir, it's Miss Darcy, the computer is telling me she is slowly waking up. This took longer than I thought it would- she should have been woken up hours ago. What did you give her?"

Darcy groaned, her head was pounding, she felt sick and she wished the voices she could hear would go away.

She was unaware at the moment that she was being drugged, which is why the baby had finally calmed down inside of her.

Darcy just wanted to sleep some more, but the voices grew louder as her head cleared.

"Well we had to make sure the both of them were in a stable condition. Keep an eye on her body's temperature levels. We must keep her safe if she is to carry on like this."

There seemed to be another voice now, Darcy thought she was just imagining things when she could hear one voice, but now there were two and they were deep in conversation.

"Five more minutes Brucie…" she moaned, trying to roll onto her side but she felt numb and cold, she opened her eyes and saw her arms and feet were strapped to a metallic bed.

That's when the panic set in and Darcy remembered what happened.

"Where am I?" Darcy asked hoarsely, her eyes trying to scan the room. Her eyes fell upon a man and a woman on the other side of the room, machines stood in every corner and the light flickered every so often like it was going to flicker out then come back on, sort of what you see in those horror movies.

The woman wore black shaded glasses so Darcy couldn't see her eyes, but her face was painted like an evil mask; a blood red smile painted upon her lips which really did not flatter her pale skin in any way, long jet black hair fell down her back and her fingernails were like death's scythe. Darcy had decided for entertainment purposes in this hellhole, to address the woman as Bloody Mary. Though, that was the only name she could think of.

Darcy watched as the woman sat at a desk typing, every so often she would look up and stare at Darcy before muttering something and turning back to her computer.

The man slowly walked towards Darcy, his hands behind his back, his black boots squeaked against the flooring of the room and she grimaced as she studied his face and found he too wore a mask, but of a different sort. It looked like it was there for punishment, it seemed to be sown into his face and Darcy didn't know how the man could cope without screaming, the mouth was left uncovered but all around the side of his face she could see black ugly stitches weave in-between his flesh, pressing whatever the mask was made out of, against him.

"Good morning, Miss Darcy. It seems you slept all through last night and its now, what, 10am on a lovely Saturday morning." His voice was as cold as ice with a hint of sarcasm at the end.

"May be lovely for you, but for me, I could say otherwise." Darcy struggled against her shackles before looking at the man again. "What the hell is your problem; don't you know how sick this is? Where the hell am I?"

Darcy was disgusted, even more so when she turned her head and saw a tube connected to a machine and the other running into her right arm. Trying to stay calm, she turned her head and almost jumped out of her skin. For the man had gotten closer to the bed now, he leaned over and she felt sickened as he stroked her face before she watched his hands slowly creep downwards.

"Don't even go there, jackass." Darcy let out a growl, her eyes blazing with fury.

The man laughed, stopping his hands as they graced Darcy's ever-growing stomach before standing up and backing away slightly.

"She's feisty, I like that."

"When Bruce finds you, he will rip you apart limb by limb." Darcy hissed before her eyes shot to her stomach as she realised she couldn't feel the baby kick like it usually did. "What did you do to my baby?"

"She's just sleeping at the moment; I suggest you don't move as she broke a few of your bones on the way here."

Darcy's heart fluttered, hearing them refer to the baby as a "she." She and Bruce didn't want to know until the birth, but she actually felt happy. Those feelings were suddenly replaced when she realised they were drugging the baby.

"You're drugging my baby? What for? What gives you any right!?"

Darcy could feel the drugs that were numbing the pain were slowly wearing off and she knew they were telling the truth that she'd broken a few bones; she found it harder to move now she felt the pain, so she gave in and just lay on the metal bed.

The woman turned from her computer

"Mrs Banner, just think of it like this. You are married to one of the most dangerous, destructive men on Earth. Unlike him, your baby does not have the capability to turn green, our tests have proven that. Yet while it's still human, it still has your husband's incredible strength and its killing you."

"But you're A.I.M! I know you, I know what you do. You want the baby. MY BABY. You plan to brainwash it and turn it against us."

"As one big weapon." The woman laughed.

Darcy's mind reeled and she could feel her arms tense, her heart starting to pound in her chest and her head started to spin when she saw the man pick up a familiar object on a table behind him. Her handbag.

He reached in and pulled out her phone, laughing as Darcy winced as with one simple clench of his hand, the phone broke into a million pieces and with a clatter and a clang, they fell to the floor.

"I'm sorry Miss Darcy, but you're not in the right condition to fight. So no matter what you say, no matter how hard you scream, we ARE going to save you from your fate of death."

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING MY BABY FROM ME!"

The man slowly turned, laughing evilly as the woman got up from the desk and advanced towards Darcy.

"Don't touch me!" Darcy growled again but she knew far too well she was in no condition to fight nor could she move her whole body without feeling the pain of her broken bones.

"Sleep now Darcy, we just need to run a day or two more of tests and then we can get the show on the road. You'll be alright."

The woman spoke with such a fake soothing voice, it made Darcy want to punch her. But she could get Bruce to do that later.

The last thing Darcy saw was a small needle entering her neck and the woman stood beside the bed, tapping at something before Darcy gave into the oncoming darkness.


	7. Suprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Staring in disbelief at the tv, the Avengers cant get over what has happened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter due to writers block and trying to figure out how the Avengers would react/cope. Hope I still did justice

For once in his life, Tony Stark knew not to overstep the boundaries. Darcy's kidnapping had affected everyone and they were all tense, you could hear the sounds of police cars below in the streets and the sound of the coffee machine humming at the other side of the room where Tony stood. JARVIS didn't say anything as he knew far too well what the responses might be. He thought better of it and faded back into the non-existent silence in the room

Thor had taken a distraught and badly withdrawn Jane to their room for some privacy but surprisingly Pepper was sitting on the sofa in the main sitting room, her arms waiting to hold Tony when he joined her.

Tony had earlier tried going to see Bruce in his lab, before being reminded of his current state by JARVIS and quite frankly, Tony didn't feel like getting his face broken today, he was already sore from the endless fighting yesterday. Plus that rocket launcher screwed up the suits systems, which JARVIS was now currently readjusting so thankfully it was nothing major.

This left the rest of the team, bar Bruce who was still in the lab, sitting around the muted TV, watching as the blurred images of Darcy and the Avengers flashed across the screen, their minds still reeling from the events of yesterday.

It was the morning after Darcy's kidnapping and it was a lovely, glorious sunny day, the sun shone bright and strong, making everyone uncomfortable. It was a lovely sunny day… but they all didn't feel like celebrating. The weather outside seemed to be tormenting them, depressing them even more. The halls were quitter without Darcy and they all knew that…They all missed her.

Tony looked around the room at the stone-cold faces that still never spoke, their eyes still watching the TV like it was a hellish reminder of the one failure they had come out of.

Steve sat alone; his hands cupped around a coffee cup which he never drunk out of yet pretended to. He'd been frozen for over 70 years, seen plenty of people fall to Loki's schemes but still couldn't process Darcy being gone. Darcy cared for each and every one of the Avengers; it shocked him and Bruce more than anyone.

Tony watched as Pepper reached out to him, she looked at Steve with a sad but confident smile and he could faintly hear the whispered "Thanks" fall from Steve's lips.

Tony turned his attention to the assassin and the archer; his arms holding her curled up body in a loving embrace, her head rested against his chest, her fiery red hair a tangled mess and he watched as the archer twirled and curled his fingers in her hair in an attempt to soothe them both and soon Tony had made his way to sit next to Pepper, her arms instantly had a tight grip on his.

"You okay?" Tony asked her, moving Pepper's arms so he could hold her instead.

Pepper nodded before looking up at him.

"Do….Do you think we'll find her?"  
Before Tony could open his mouth to answer, Steve had beaten him to it and replied with a hint of revenge in his voice.

"Oh we will, we'll never give up. We'll make them pay."  
"Bruce would make sure of that." Natasha snorts before looking up at Clint, her eyes getting wider.

Tony notices that Clint had tensed even more now too; his eyes grew wider as he paused the TV at a blurred picture of the truck Tony had tried to follow but failed as it disappeared into the night after throwing him off with a cloaking device and he ended up going the totally opposite direction as it scrambled with his systems. Nobody blamed him though, whoever had done this was obviously well prepared and planned it upon them all, unsuspecting that something would take Darcy from them.

"It can't be…." Clint whispered.

"Clint? Clint what is it?" Natasha crawled out of his arms, sitting next to him as his eyes never moved from the screen, she shook him and that's when he slowly answered.

"Nat…Nat look at the screen." He places the remote down on the coffee table in front of him.

Natasha follows his gaze and she looks at the blurred image of the truck.

"What about it Clint?" she asks softly, feeling the other's eyes burn in their direction.

Clint pointed at the blurred image of the truck; specifically the logo on the side.

"It's blurred, but look Nat. What can you make out?"

Natasha studied the screen carefully, her eyebrows knitted together furiously.

"A…I…M…" she pronounced carefully, confused. "Yeah, so?"  
Then it hit her.

"Oh this is BAD." She jumped to her feet, stumbling a little as her mind tried to process where she'd seen this before.

Natasha looked at Tony, Steve, Pepper and then back to Clint.

"We need to get Bruce and tell Fury-"  
"What makes you think I'm not already here, Agent Romanov?"

The voice called out to them and the Avengers turned their heads to see Nick Fury standing with his arms crossed, standing in front of the elevator.

"So, you ready to kick some ass?" and slowly, for the first time ever, Nick Fury smiled.


	8. Daydreamer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce starts to imagine things that he really shouldn't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another, little bit rushed chapter. I apologise. A big thank you to all my followers and reviewers, I love each and everyone of you!

So let me get this straight…" Bruce began as he was ushered into the back of a SHIELD truck followed by Steve, Tony, Clint and Natasha who swung round to close the door.

They'd told Thor to stay with Pepper and Jane and they'd call him when they needed him because all of Thor's plans included walking through the front door and kicking ass. They needed the element of surprise and Thor didn't know much about Earth so everyone thought it'd be better if they did the planning. Thor was pretty good at taking orders, after all.

Bruce sat down next to Fury who had decided to join them in the back, banging against the metal separating them from the agents driving, signalling to start the truck.

Bruce turned to his head to Fury.

"YOU want to help us rescue Darcy?"

The surprise in his voice betrayed his stern and serious look he always wore upon his face. Fury turned to meet his gaze.

"I do have emotions you know-" this retort from Fury was met with a snort of laughter which he immediately knew came from Tony. Turning away from Bruce, Fury gave Stark his trademark glare which immediately shut him up. "As I was going to say, Darcy is a valuable member to our team in more ways than one. You really think I'm gonna let them take away one of the crew? Damn right I won't and neither will any of you. Doctor Banner, we ARE going to get your wife back."

5 minutes of silence occurred before Natasha saw from her seat next to Clint that Tony was about to say something but a quick kick to the shins silenced him, well almost.

He hissed in pain, sending Clint into a fit of laughter before hiding his face in Natasha's shoulder as he knew this was a serious situation they were in. Steve sat with his arms crossed, shaking his head at this childish behaviour which continued for another 15 minutes, to which everyone hated and hoped Tony Stark would someday end up in hell and Steve ended up barking at him that he would kill him if he had to.

"Are we there yet?" Tony moaned, impatiently tapping his sore feet, he got no reply but the earpiece Fury wore buzzed into life a few minutes later as the truck made its way up what felt like a small hill before slowly decreasing speed as a building came into view.

"Director Fury, welcome back. The conference room is ready as you insisted and two agents are on their way to escort you."

Fury gave a few more instructions to the voice before nodding at the Avengers, signalling the truck had stopped. They had arrived at one of SHEILD'S ground bases, Fury had a tendency to hop between buildings and making sure everything was running fine but their 'flying fortress' as Loki had called it, was the main base and only used if a major threat, like an invasion or something had come about.

Natasha was the first one to climb out, followed by Clint, Fury and Tony but Steve and Bruce left together, that's when Bruce started thinking about Darcy again, nightmarish scenarios running through his head as he walked, imagining the things her captors were putting her and the baby through. He remembered her voice was like an angels, sweetly calling out to him before the softness faded away, twisting into an almighty ear-shattering scream.

Bruce stopped walking now and stood where he was, letting his fears envelope him and he watched as images of Darcy grew bigger, as if he could almost feel and touch them.

He saw the other Avengers, Jane, Pepper and a few SHIELD members watch as a casket with a gold nameplate on it was slowly lowered into the ground. Bruce could see it was his Darcy's name written on the casket. Bruce tried to call out, to say something but he found himself looking down; at the baby in his arms.

It took a moment to register what this scenario was about and Bruce didn't like it, not one bit.

He continued watching as instead of a digger moving the soil back on the casket to fill the hole, Steve and Thor began to shovel it back in. He could see Tony comforting Pepper, holding her as she sobbed into his chest. Jane was there too, buts he never said a word like Bruce did and she couldn't believe it. Darcy was gone. This time for good…

Bruce tensed, he could feel the green flashing through his body and it was only when a strong, firm arm grabbed onto him did he snap out of it.

"Doctor Banner? Doctor Banner, I understand what you are going through but we need you to focus." Bruce thought the words were coming out of Nick Fury's mouth when he noticed Steve. He wondered how long he'd been standing there daydreaming.

Running his hands through his hair, he turned to Steve as he released the grip on his arm.

"Sorry about that, I seemed to be in a world of my own."

Steve gave a small smile as if remembering his times from 70 years ago with his Peggy Carter before his unfortunate accident. She was still alive though, just an old frail woman and it broke Steve's heart, but he had to move on. He wouldn't let Darcy be taken from Bruce.

Bruce looked around and he found he was in the middle of one the floors of the building; he let all the agent's voices buzz over his head and concentrated on staying calm.

"Come on Doctor Banner, the sooner we get you to the conference room, the sooner we can plan and save your wife."

Bruce couldn't help but laugh and agreed, letting Steve show him the way through the hallways and masses of agents hurrying up and down them to the conference room. When they arrived, Fury had just finished explaining who and what A.I.M was.

Turns out they'd set themselves up about two to three months after Loki's attack on Manhattan in a bid to enslave everyone All of the people involved were deranged lunatics, some even were scientists and they all had one thing in common; destruction. They loved it, they wanted to get the most powerful weapons in the world and use them against their own kind.

"In a sickening sort of way, it makes sense that they'd take Darcy." Natasha said, her comment shortly followed by Tony's own questions.

"But why would they take her if they know we aren't going to stop until we find her?"

Bruce advances towards the table in the middle of the room where everyone stood around, his eyes passing between everyone in the room.

"Isn't it obvious? They've got a few tricks up their sleeves and still got the ace, the trump card to play."

Clint sat in his seat, playing with his bow before looking up at Bruce, then at Fury.

"So then, what's the plan?"


	9. Darcy and Bloody Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's POV- shes alone and stuck with the woman from hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may seem like a small chapter, but Word told me it was over 1,000 words and when I copied and pasted the text it formatted weirdly, so I apologise but please enjoy

The insane people I'm trapped with keep waking me up from the drugs every few hours, my head pounds and my chest hurts. I just want to go home, to go back to my family and friends.

I feel sick now at the thought of the state Bruce is in, images in my head of Bruce tearing up Tony's lab in frustration. I don't have a clue of where I am, just that I'm in the same room as I was before. As if reading my thoughts, the baby kicked.

It was a soft kick unlike the other times, I felt relieved that it decided to let me know it was ok but I knew it was fighting the drugs my captors had given me and I knew, being a Banner, it'd be smart and soon it would realise I was still in danger and it would kick up a fuss.

I didn't let the fear show in my eyes but I knew I couldn't do anything but wait, hoping that sometime, anytime now I would feel a blast rock the building and there he would be, he'd kick some ass here and there and then he'd carry me off into the sunset. Stupid fairy-tale dreams, they were for little girls waiting for their Prince Charming.

I loved Bruce; I wouldn't change anything for the world. I knew this was the price to pay for getting married to a superhero, but the most dangerous one at that? Yes so he had a dangerous Other Guy, but the Bruce I know was different than the news showed him, different than the SHIELD reports, different then the videos I'd watched over and over again and remembered each and every one down to every last detail. Deep down, my Bruce was as fragile and scared as everyone else was; they'd forgotten he was just a regular human being.

My heart broke thinking about everything he'd been through, thinking of his past and all that happiness he had slowly shattering over the years. I changed him for the better like no-one else thought I could. But I showed them, I showed them all! Yes he still was always angry but he had me… Our child… His friends...Nobody gets left behind, not now, not ever. We stick together through the toughest of times and I refused to let my emotions get the better of me.

I watched as the woman stood up from her usual spot at the computer on the other side of the room, the creepy ass perverted man had apparently gone to attend to other businesses in the building, so that just left me in the hands of Bloody Mary. I tensed as she walked towards me, I could hear a few taps at the machine next to me before I heard her breathe a sigh of relief.

When her hands flew to the strap holding my right arm to the bed, I hissed instinctively and she gave a small smile before pulling the strap on my arm free. You could see the outlines of where the restraint had dug into my skin; I could feel my arm burn but sighed in relief when no blood started flowing. She proceeded to unlock the shackles round my ankles when she spoke to me, her voice now seemed softer than before, as if she wasn't actually faking her emotions.

"You must be hungry Darcy, after all you haven't eaten since yesterday and we must get something down you."

I hated that she was right, I was starving and the thought of food reminded me of a my Brucie,

I remembered those muffins I used to make and we'd share them together, watching the sun rise over New York from the rooftop of the tower, enjoying those quiet moments we had together before the others rose and got on with their daily activities, Bruce would do the usual thing he did and I would wander between the halls, watching Steve practicing on a punch bag or Clint practicing archery.

I used to watch Natasha in the guns-only shooting range but against Bruce's orders and Tony restricting JARVIS from letting me in, I had to find something else to do. Often resulting in teaching Thor about the Earth and helping Jane with whatever the hell she did now because right now I can't be arsed to think as my mind is on Bruce.

I watched from the corner of my eye as Bloody Mary walked round and undid the final strap that held down my left arm and when it was free, I rubbed my arms trying to soothe the burning sensation. I was free, yet I was broken, pregnant and in no condition to fight or run. No hope left but just to go along with everything and wait, wait and hope that Bruce would come.

"Why are you being so nice to me at the moment?" I found myself asking, I knew it sounded harsh but I couldn't help the way I spoke to her, I was so confused and felt twisted, being pulled in too many directions and it felt like my head was starting to spin again.

Bloody Mary didn't answer but left the room only to come back a few minutes later with a wheelchair.

"I want Bruce… I want to go home…" I whispered as I was helped into the wheelchair, wincing every now and then as I could feel the pain shooting up for me from my broken bones.

Bloody Mary looked at me with sad, forgiving eyes, almost like a little child would when it accidentally broke something. Sticking the door open with a small box, she came to collect me and wheeled me through the door, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"I know Darcy; I know…But I need to tell you something…"  
As she starts to wheel me down the long, brightly lit corridor I couldn't help but wonder what it was she wanted to tell me. Was it the baby? Was it something to do with me or her? I had no idea

All I knew was I wanted to go home, be with the family and friends I loved.

I needed a Doctor, not just any old doctor, not a hospital doctor (though I would when I got the hell out of here); I needed MY DOCTOR, my Bruce.


	10. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy gets the surprise of her life

By the time Bloody Mary had wheeled Darcy down to the cafeteria, all the other workers for A.I.M who were there had slowly faded and disappeared into the background as quickly as they came, nobody talked and nobody dared to stare at Darcy, yet they all knew who she was and nobody looked at one another until they left the room together, Darcy could faintly hear whispers and hisses in her direction but she ignored them.

Soon Bloody Mary and Darcy were left all alone in the huge room, silence stuck to every corner of it and Darcy winced every time the wheels on her chair squeak against the marble floor, her eyes scanned the room and she was amazed at the sheer size, it was almost three times the size of Tony's lab and Darcy could see the tables and benches neatly organised in rows around the room and her eyes quickly spotted several crusty blood stains on the walls and she averted her eyes, not wanting to know why, how or when.

The lights in the room flickered every so often, as if they were faulty or about to die and the strong smell of disinfectant that lingered in the hallways was soon replaced by another smell, a smell of Darcy's favourite food. She could smell the strong scent of onions fill the air and it's like her eyes almost watered at how strong they were, this smell was shortly followed by the smell of sausages and apple pie.

"No way!" Darcy gasped "Hot Dogs and Apple Pie!?" she couldn't contain her excitement but she winced at how desperate she sounded to taste it.

This sent the woman with Darcy into hysterics and Darcy started to reminisce about the times when, during movie night back at the tower, Pepper and Jane would make their special apple pie for the boys to try and it was heaven.

Crumbly, crunchy but soft and warm at the same time, they'd nailed the recipe and even Steve was asking for a second round but Bruce would watch with a soft smile as Tony flirted with Pepper as they fed each other and Jane began to explain this so called 'delicacy' to Thor, his expressions often sending Darcy burrowing her face into Bruce's shirt in an attempt to stifle her laughter and Steve shaking his head in amusement. Clint and Natasha would often perch on a sofa end, their eyes looking out over the busy city that never slept, the Big Apple. Their home.

It seemed crazy to think a bunch of superheroes and their lovers were living together under one roof, it seemed to be unreal but if you asked every one of them, they wouldn't change it one bit. It seemed strange that when they were first brought together, they fought each other constantly. Now? They stuck together like glue, each and everyone one of them considered themselves to be a part of this estranged family.

The woman shook Darcy, amused.

"It's just food." She said "Quite a lot of people like it you know."

Darcy almost flipped out at this and she knew she was over-reacting and blamed it on her hormones but she couldn't help getting excited over the sheer smell of the food.

The woman stopped wheeling Darcy around the cafeteria to pull one of the long benches out so the wheelchair could fit.

As Darcy waited for the woman to return with a tray of food for her, her fingers danced across the top of her stomach and she felt the baby kick again, as if it were greeting her. Darcy began to grin as the baby kicked softly and playfully wherever she put her hands but her attention soon turned back to the mysterious woman she was with.

She came over with the tray and some cutlery, plonking it down in front of Darcy who thanked her, despite the fact that she was meant to be a total and utter villainous captor, she was meant to be torturing Darcy and leave her screaming for mercy and ignore her pleas, making the torture worse by the second… Yet here they were, conversing like normal people would.

The woman smiled, walking round to the other side of the table to sit facing Darcy.

"You said on the way down here that you had something to tell me. What is it and why are you being so…so nice all of a sudden?" Darcy sounded confused but grateful as she tucked into the food that sat before her, every mouthful seemed like heaven and Darcy knew she had to savour every bit as it would be a while before she ate again. She already had stuck her knife in the middle of her small slice of apple pie and it glinted in the light of the room.

The woman looked at Darcy before smiling again, reaching out for her arm and rubbing it soothingly as if for comfort.

"I'm not who you think I am Darcy, my 'boss', that man you saw over you- he doesn't even know my true identity. I snuck here yesterday…looking for you. He needed someone to look after you and that was my ticket in. None of the other workers would, they were too busy with god knows what. But we don't have much time Darcy-"

Darcy almost choked on her food; staring at the woman she called Bloody Mary. There was no way this could have been so, so right…yet so wrong at the same time but it hit her like a ton of bricks when she realised.

The voice the woman was using now was one she recognised but Darcy almost hyperventilated, trying to process this information in her head. It couldn't be, no it wouldn't and shouldn't be…but it was.

"It can't be…" Darcy kept gasping for air, rapidly searching the woman's face for clues, something, anything that would prove her wrong and this was all some sort of sick hallucination Darcy had created in her head. The baby kicked again, as if sensing Darcy's rapid heartbeat but she ignored it and kept scanning the woman for clues.

But then, as if to Darcy's expectations, the woman slowly started clawing and ripping at her own face, revealing it to be nothing more than prosthetics. Looking down, slightly disturbed to see the prosthetic face on the table, Darcy couldn't believe her eyes and pulling the knife out of her apple pie, she poked it; half expecting the prosthetic face to come alive and look at her. But it didn't.

Darcy looked up in disbelief at the smiling familiar face in front of her, watching as she pulled a tissue out of her pocket, wiping away the blood red lipstick that didn't help her complexion before stuffing the tissue back in her pocket and turning to Darcy again.

"Maria!?" Darcy whispered, still finding it hard to believe.

Then, as if it was timed, the side of the building blew up and Darcy screamed, her arms instantly wrapped themselves around her stomach protectively as the wheelchair slammed backwards into the wall, it took most of the impact but it still left Darcy barely conscious. Breathing rapidly, she tried to look around but she was in so much pain, screaming and withering in a heap on the floor.

"Darcy!"

The last thing Darcy saw from her crumpled state on the floor, entangled in the broken wheelchair was the fading figure of Maria Hill before she stood up protectively, facing the hole in the wall as Darcy slipped into the darkness once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned, trust me its going to get good!
> 
> Thanks to everyone for the kudos' and comments, I love each and every one of you!


	11. Patchy the Pirate Has A Plan!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I start I would like to say beforehand that I wrote this chapter with a friend of mine as I was struggling, so the detail in the dialogues and description can be seen, however unfortunately this will not last as I am now unstuck and will carry on by myself.
> 
> Another however is that after this story I might rewrite it myself, making it more detailed. Please enjoy though!

Chapter 11

"Our intelligence places A.I.M here" Said Fury, gesturing to the display panel to his left.

The city of New York could be seen in a three-dimensional model, the computer capturing all five boroughs in pixilated hologram form.

"Well thank you so very much for narrowing our search down to the busiest city on the planet. Or is it Tokyo? Possibly Beijing. I really should know this shouldn't I?" Said Tony, stroking his beard in mock contemplation.

"Mr. Stark would you let me finish teaching the class or would you prefer to?"

Tony opened his mouth again as if to offer a retort but Fury cut him off before he could get a word out.

"Since Loki's attack we have been keeping tabs on certain special interest individuals around the globe. Four weeks ago one of our operatives in Madrid, Peter Garcia, was killed while on assignment. "He pressed another button and the display changed to that of a woman's face. She appeared to be in her late 40s although that could have just been the tired look in her eyes aging her.

"This is Ava Henrikez, one of Spain's top neurosurgeons or at least she was. Last week she turned up dead in the sewers in the Bronx. Now it turns out that Doctor Henrikez was on Agent Garcia's list of targets and that she went off the grid after his death."

Fury was about to continue but at that moment Bruce stood up from the table

"This is all very interesting Nick but how does knowing any of this help us find Darcy or tell us what A.I.M's goal is?" Through his voice was calm the veins in his temples were visibly throbbing.

"I understand your need for haste, as I said before I need you to focus, and that means letting me talk right now"

Bruce was shaking but he sat back down. Control was slipping away by the minute.

"Well we seem to be pressed for time" Fury looked over at the rapidly destabilizing form of Bruce trying to hold it together "So I will skip the 'Hows' and 'Whys' and skip to the 'Where' "

He made a new image appear on the display, this time it was that of a large seven story building that appeared to be in a state of disrepair

"This is Saint Thomas's Hospital. It has been shut down for over two years now. The thing is, it was supposed to be demolished nine months ago but that order never went through. We have learned that A.I.M have been using it as a base, when you think about it a Hospital is the perfect place there would be hookups for medical and scientific equipment and a helipad on the roof. Clint I will need you and Natasha to run point for this one covering the roof from the north and south. Steve I want you to cover ground level. Seeing as how the place is still boarded up to look condemned I doubt you will have any trouble but just to be on the safe side it is best to have all our bases covered. Tony you and Bruce will go in from the Central Avenue sewers and cut your way into the basement. Alright everyone move out. Oh and Tony?"

Everyone turned around.

"Yes, Patchy the Pirate?" Said Tony

"Since Bruce will be going with you, the Hulk is your responsibility. Don't make me regret it" Fury gave one last retort, ignoring Tony's name for him.

Steve laughed "Yeah and this time why don't you two try and keep the collateral damage to under a billion bucks."

The trek through the sewer was the foulest thing imaginable. Tony thanked god that he had a helmet to protect him from the stench which was powerful enough to cause the Hulk to throw up upon their entry. The water came up to his knees and he shuddered to think about how much of it was actually water and how much of it were waste,

By now the Hulk was almost blind with rage. The only thought in his mind now was getting to his Darcy at any cost.

"All's quiet on this front, how do things look at your end?" Steve's voice came in over the radio in Tony's helmet.

"It is lovely, wish you were here!" Tony replied sarcastically before

"I see no movement on my end, if this really is their headquarters then they have done a wonderful job making it look like exactly what it appears to be, an old hospital. I would be surprised if a helicopter could even land here safely without the roof collapsing." Clint interrupted the exchange between Tony and Steve.

"Steve stay focused; you too Clint, you should know better than anyone that you can't take anything you see on these streets on face value, but Steve STAY in the van, that outfit you wear is hardly inconspicuous." Natasha said, effectively silencing the chit-chat that was developing.

Tony and Bruce continued through the sewer for another several blocks before JARVIS announced they had arrived.

"I hope this really is the place, I would hate to accidentally be breaking into a bank or something." Said Tony "All right big guy you are up, get us in there."

The Hulk faced the wall and with three well placed battering-ram like punches, enough concrete and mortar crumbled away to create a hole large enough for the both of them to fit through. They surveyed the room they were now in. It was large enough that the Hulk could stand upright.

It looked like it had once been a record storage room in the days before computers when all the documents needed to be kept filed away on paper. There were still boxes of files lying around. Some looked as though they had been eaten or shredded by rats for nests.

"Well this certainly is quieter than I was expecting" Tony looked around for a minute "Guys we are definitely in the right place, this room may not have been used in ages but someone has been making sure the wiring is up to code, Bruce if you could."

He pointed to the wall next to the hole they had made; in the high corner was a very new security camera. The Hulk grabbed the camera pulling it from the wall sending a shower of sparks flying as the wires snapped. They walked out into the hallway and again no sign of life.

"It is like they knew we were coming…" Tony muttered.

They walked toward the exit that would lead the stairs at the other end.  
As they passed the elevators however an alarm began to sound.

"JARVIS, you are supposed to warn me when there are lasers I cannot see in front of me"

"Sir, I am detecting massive interference from an outside high band frequency from your location. "

"Oh crap, Bruce give me your hand and hold on, this is going to be painful"

The Hulk grabbed hold of Tony's armoured hand and Tony fired his jets sending them up through the the several layers of Earth, concrete and marble before the initial course had been altered by a struggling Bruce and they ended up sprawling sideways into one final wall.

Bruce, nearly unconscious, fell away as Tony flew into something.  
It took him a few moments to realise Tony's fall had been broken by machinery and kitchenware, Bruce looked around and found the face of Maria staring at him, horrified but relieved before he blacked out.


	12. Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick Fury POV, and then we join Darcy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK BABY! I'll be updating more now since im on easter break, Im off for two weeks! enjoy
> 
> (Oh and when you get to the bottom, don't kill me! XD)

Nick Fury's POV

I stood in my usual spot in the SHEILD base surrounded by my computers and other agents working and keeping track of other stuff I couldn't give a shit about at the moment. I turned and tapped at one of the computer screens when I heard Steve Rodgers contact me, telling me the side of the hospital building blew up and the whole place was rigged to explode, no thanks to Doctor Banner and Tony and they (being Steve, Clint and Natasha) hadn't heard from them since  
I groaned as I realised Tony had once again fucked up a mission. That arrogant bastard really does not like taking orders yet he knows how important, how delicate this situation is. Darcy affects everyone in one way or another and I hate to admit it, but she is a god damn good agent and not just because she helps the Avengers... I knew I was getting distracted now and shook my head of the thoughts; I usually never got like this.

"Keep me posted, Rogers." I said into my earpiece, drawing up all holographic images of the building and watched as different parts of the building flashed a sickening red danger colour and I smiled at the thought of my own trick up my sleeve, I'd already sent Maria in to find Darcy but the others didn't know that, I just hoped the both of them were okay.

"Will do, sir. Rogers out."  
Then the communications went quiet, the occasional banter from Clint and Natasha could be heard but I just ignored it, finding it odd that I could not hear from Tony, his voice was almost always heard, it's like the man never shut up. Because of this I had come to two conclusions, one being that Tony was trying to keep control of Bruce (I knew that would never be achieved in a million years) or secondly, they were both in deep shit.

Darcy's POV

Just from being blasted against the wall, I felt like I was being pulled in many different directions, almost like one of those cooking things that stretches dough or something.

One minute I felt like I were falling, like that feeling you get when you're drifting off to sleep in bed and the next I felt like I was being ripped apart, every part of me felt like I was on fire; a fire that would never die.

I admit I've been in situations like this before, pain-wise I mean but I suppose that's what I get for living the life of an agent. It's what I get for hanging around an astrophysicist who fell in love with a hunk of a demi-god who then got involved with a super-secret organisation and we had to be ushered to safety, or as they called it "a new job" but then everything returned to normal… Well, as normal as it could be, to say we became a part of SHEILD and were introduced to the most kick-ass team on the planet.

I can still remember waking up a few months ago in a hospital, three days after an accident in the lab that Tony caused, Bruce blamed himself-  
My mind started filling with things I wanted to ask, questions I were already answering by myself. I so badly wanted to see everyone again. To be safe again, away from this death-trap…

I didn't- I DON'T regret a thing and I never will, I love my life the way it is now, these guys were all family to me. Though, to any other person I'd sound a little crazy. But I suppose we all were in a way.

It didn't take long for me to come round after the blast and when I did, everything was like a blurry pixelated television screen.

I could make out that I was still tangled in the broken wheelchair in a heap on the floor and Maria hung over me, relieved that I was awake.

When I tried to move the pain came flooding back and I screamed in agony, my insides felt like they were ripping themselves apart. When I pictured this horrific description, in time with me noticing the red alarm bell light bathing the room, I realised the baby wasn't kicking.

I couldn't help but scream more as pain and fear rippled through me and I could faintly see Maria lean over me, pressing down on my arms as if to hold me down.

"Darcy, Darcy look at me. Everything is going to be fine but we need to get you out of here."  
I could feel her lift herself off me and she kneeled at the end of my feet, blocking my view of almost everything else in the room, which really didn't matter to be honest as my eyesight was still blurry as fuck and wasn't going to get better anytime soon.

We heard a groan a moment later, followed by scuffling noises as if someone was face down on the floor- who was here? Maria turned to face the voice and when they spoke, I recognised who it was almost immediately.

"Oh… fuck my head…Maria? What the fuck are you doing here? What the hell-Where? "

I could hear Maria say something and I then could hear the sound of metal scraping across the floor, as if they were crawling or pulling themselves along. I felt a cold piece on my arm and through my pixelated vision I could just make out the face of Tony Stark and he looked like hell.

"Darcy!? Did the explosion do this to you? Fuck, Bruce is going to kill me, I'm sorry Darce. I didn't know you guys were in here- the course was altered by my failing suit-Fuck I am so screwed. Yet again. "The billionaire babbled on for a bit before a soft whack to the head by Maria brought him to his senses and I tried my best to say its okay, but it was gurgled between soft sobbing as my screaming died down.

The sound of an army of marching men came from two different directions; I whimpered knowing all too well who was coming and Tony immediately leapt into action.

"I found Darcy. We need a med evac-"he stopped talking into an ear piece halfway through his sentence as he noticed my maternity clothing which was a pale yellow colour, was slowly being turned a purple-red type colour.

"Darce…" he gasped.

Maria grabbed my hand to reassure me but I knew far too well what was going on.

"Guys, we need that evac, like- NOW! You better get here fast as we can hear people coming-"

The army of boots on marble floor were getting closer and I knew this feeling of wet wasn't good, I could faintly see the red seeping through my bottoms.

"No…No, no- no- Maria it's too early. It's too early, I can't lose her, and I can't lose her, not now. Please, do something. I can't lose my baby." My hysterical sobs gurgled as I felt sick rising up my throat and my pixelated vision was getting worse.

"Darcy, Darcy stay with us now, Darcy stay with us, everything is going to be okay." Maria kept repeating, ripping a bit of her uniform to wipe the sweat that had broken out on my forehead.

"We're losing her!" Tony yelled, trying to get his suited arms underneath me.

"We'll lose the both of them if we don't get the fuck out of here!" Maria yelled back in his face

The sound of boots stopped and from the corner of my eye I could see the evil man from earlier enter with guards. He looked at Maria, laughing wildly before raising a gun at Tony

"We can't lose it, men. Take her and the undercover agent too."

I sobbed as Tony tried to shoot a ball of energy at the man but his suit was broken and wouldn't respond, he never took his eye off the gun and as the men advanced towards us a piercing growl filled the air.

"Here comes your hero, Darce." Tony smiled, turning so I could see what was going on as a huge green figure burst through the wall connecting the kitchen to the table area.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" The growl pierced my ears and I smiled briefly, before giving into the darkness.


	13. The Assasin Duo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Join the assassin duo....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks, thanks to every follower and reviewer for all your lovely support. This is not BETA'd so please excuse my mistakes and I apologise for the shortness of this chapter, the formatting is really weird thanks to Fanfiction and I had terrible writer's block for this chapter for the past two days, but when I finally wrote this chapter down, my writer block kinda became unstuck and I literally have written almost 6 more chapters, give or take.
> 
> Yet again, I apologise but please enjoy!

At SHIELD

Nick Fury stood hunched over a holographic screen, rapidly scanning a database of A.I.M that he had secretly acquired before he sent in Maria. He could read with just one eye pretty well and most of the information he just ignored as to him, it looked like a frickin' essay

While he could hear the Avengers fighting and throwing remarks back at each other, an alert popped up on the screen in front of him telling him that an undercover agent had gathered more information and he decided to study this lot more carefully, leaning in even closer like the text was small to read and he was an elderly person who couldn't read without glasses yet didn't have any.

It took him a few minutes to study the information and process it fully, but when he did his face grew into his trademark stone-cold glare, looking up as he heard Tony Stark desperately yell into his earpiece.  
"Guys we need that med evac- like NOW!"

Nick stared up at the agents that were slowly stopping to look at him, fear clearly in their eyes.

"Get me Thor Odinson and a jet with a med team, immediately!" he barked, moving the information from the screen to his own personal tablet as agents started rushing around him. Nick placed his personal tablet pad back in the inside of his jacket before running with one of his agents that would escort him and a med team to a jet, nobody noticed him slip a tranquiliser dart into his pocket as they ran. Nick seemed to be serious yet didn't tell anyone about what information he was sent, all the agents could guess was that he slowly pieced things together, found images and connected the dots like a map. They knew whoever he was after was in big trouble because with Nick, you don't mess around with him.

Back with the Avengers

When they got the message in their earpieces, Clint and Natasha were literally overrun and surrounded in seconds, oe minute they were alone and the next minute they were fighting for their lives.

"Not this again!" Natasha grunted, swinging a punch at one of the men that had joined them, only to watch as the man dodged Nat's attack. She tried a kick to the face but they dodged that as well, swinging their own feet underneath Natasha, sending her crashing to her knees and she grunted again, deflecting a punch which was meant to send her to the floor, but she retaliated by twisting one of their arms back behind them.

She expected them to scream in pain and beg for mercy when the man turned his head, he was emotionless and Clint watched as Natasha was flipped towards the edge of the roof, producing an exact replica of Natasha's stunt she had originally planned.

"What the hell!" she screeched, digging her heels into the side of the building and launching herself up again, hearing Clint's heavy breathing behind her as she ran to launch another assault, Clint watched as a frenzy of red hair and black armour danced in time with each other in front of him, slowly he realised more men were going to join in so he backed up Natasha, starting his own assault.

"Stark the men have us pinned on the roof, get Darcy out of there!" he yelled, dodging a punch to the face and rolling across the floor, trying to draw his bow and arrows so he could shoot but he kept getting endless amounts of punches at him, aimed for his head.

Clint gave Natasha a boost as she ran at him, using his hands to lift her and the hot, agile Russian assassin somersaulted through the air, firing her guns as she went. But, like the day before as soon as they were down, more came to replace them and this grew frustrating, Clint used his bow and smashed it into the face of one of the men, before spinning and doing the same to another advancing behind Natasha, he gasped when he saw sparks flying from their faces and he saw, as he pulled the bow out that there were mechanical qualities to them.

He was also a little creeped out at the fact when what should have broken their faces in, the dents in their faces easily repaired themselves and it was only when he used his bow and arrows did they stay down.

"CLINT, TASHA. THEY ARE TRAINING BOTS SET UP TO KEEP US DISTRACTED AND AWAY FROM DARCY AND THE OTHERS! SOMETHING SERIOUS IS GOING ON WE NEED TO GET THERE!"  
The two super-assassins looked behind them at the streets below to find Steve yelling at them, deflecting punches and blasts from the men that had rushed out to attack him. In a way it made sense to them as they noticed with each swing and kick they were getting faster and stronger.

"Oh, great." Clint grunted.

A mighty growl emanated from beneath Clint and Natasha's feet, they looked down and then at each other.  
"Hulk." Natasha whispered, turning to face another of the bots/men again, but as she took a step the roof crumbled beneath her and then the whole roof gave way, Clint yelling Natasha's name as they fell and Steve could only watch hopelessly from street level as his team-mates disappeared from sight. He was on his earpiece in an instant,

"Clint? Tasha?" when he received no reply he decided to abandon his post and run inside the crumbling building, instead Steve got the sound of Tony and Maria screaming, yelling and cursing before the sound of the Hulk almost deafened him. "Stark? Stark, I'm on my way, do you copy?"  
Steve ran straight into the path of a flaming hallway, wiring sparking as if to say 'one wrong move and the whole place will go up'. He looked around him and noticed filing cabinets were toppled over on the floor, fire extinguishers too far out of reach and wouldn't do much anyway and all doorways in this hallway were blocked.

"Oh snap."


	14. Steve to the rescue!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve decides to play hero while there is a building burning around him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise if the past few chapters seem a little fast, though I can assure you they are over 1,000 words

Steve covered his mouth with his arm, looking at the fire that crept across the walls like the Hulk's anger; it wanted to consume anything in its path and be in total control. He was shocked at how quickly it had started but he knew he should get out of here and yet he stood there like an idiot, staring at it as if it was reminding him of his past; the plane on fire going down into the sea and he thought 'That's it, I'm dead' and yet here he was in modern day.

An explosion behind him snapped him out of his daydream and he spun round, looking at the fire that was now coming out of the walls he ran through it; dropping instantly to the floor to get the fire out before he found himself at the foot of a different set of stairs and he flung himself up them, stumbling a little as the Hulk roared again and dust floated down from the ceiling.

Steve flipped himself up and over the railings of the stairs to the next floor to cut corners when he could tell he were getting closer to Tony by the sound of the Hulk's roars getting closer and closer by the second.

Steve had looked up at the hole in the ceiling where the debris from the roof collapsing was falling several floors but he knew he had to go further to find Tony and the others.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out and he found himself skidding to a halt and peeked into one of the rooms to find Clint and Tasha alive, but in a small amount of rubble.

"Tasha, watch where you're pointing that thing!" Clint yelped as he watched the bullet skim over his shoulder and into the wall next to him.

Steve ran in to help pull him out, desperately pushing away at the chunks of debris and soon Clint was free and they started pulling Natasha out, who grunted at Clint.

"Not my fault, it must have been due to the fall." She brushed herself down and made sure the gun was pointed downwards in her back pocket.

Steve had to hold back a smile and lead the others out of the room, calling over his shoulder.

"Come on we have to find the others." He stumbled yet again as the Hulk roared and he looked over his shoulder and found the two super assassins were not too far behind and they all ran towards the corner of the hallway, hoping that the stairs would be nearby and they could hear crashing behind them, most likely from the floor collapsing.

"What's the plan?" Clint asked, jumping over scattered and broken bits of machinery and wiring across the floor.

"We get Darcy, calm Bruce, capture the enemy for interrogation-"Steve could see from the corner of his eye that as soon as he said 'interrogation' Natasha's face had lit up like a light bulb; an evil smile stretching across her face and Steve continued "and get the hell to the hospital."

As they ran round the corner, Natasha pushed both Steve and Clint to the ground before diving herself, as a gas line blew open above their heads and exploded as it mixed with the fire that had slowly but surely followed them.

As quick as they were down, they were back on their feet again and running, feeling the fire literally hot on their trails; Natasha could have sworn she heard the fire lick its lips as if it were a predator hunting its prey.

"I like that plan!" Natasha yelled as Clint pulled her in front of him as another miniature explosion went off.

"We need to get out of here soon or we'll be fried!" Clint yelled, following his two friends run up the stairs in front of them before they hastily stopped and Clint could see the floor was giving away as they stood at the edge, the corners of the room were alright but a large chunk of the middle of the hallway was slowly crumbling away and they knew they couldn't jump it to the other side.

Clint drew his bow and arrow, replacing a tip with a grappling hook, ready to aim it at the unsteady building roof they had half destroyed but he knew he couldn't; it would be too risky to aim it at the buildings current state so he withdrew it and strapped his bow onto his back again, following Natasha and Steve as they jumped to the corner of the room, trying to think of a plan.

But as Clint jumped, he could hear the sound of a familiar-looking hammer heading his way; he cocked his head to one side and found his suspicions were correct. So when it sent him through the wall and down into the streets below, he wasn't really too surprised.

That didn't stop Natasha from screaming his name, leaning out of the whole in the wall to breathe a sigh of relief as Clint had landed on his feet like a true pro, signalling to Natasha that he wasn't hurt and the hammer soon starting making its way back and Natasha ducked, watching as it left the other side of the building as quickly as it came.

Steve covered his eyes with his hands as through the hole in the wall at the other end of the room, a light shone brightly, hovering for a few moments before it reversed a bit to reveal a helicraft with its cargo hold door opening downwards to reveal Thor and Nick.

"Where is Miss Darcy?" Thor yelled, jumping to the hole in the wall and staying on the other side of the room.

Thor soon got his answer as a man crashed through the right hand wall, followed by the Hulk and he was easily deflecting and withstanding the Hulk's punches, which pissed the Hulk off even more.

"What the hell?" Steve yelled, watching as the aircraft had to pull away from the building, Fury holding onto the railings for dear life.

Tony and Maria shortly followed The Hulk; Tony had Darcy in his arms and nobody seemed to care that Maria was here with them, they just had their eyes on Thor, the man and The Hulk and Darcy.

"Thank fuck!" Tony sighed with relief, gently passing Darcy into Thor's arms and he jumped to the helicraft where the med team awaited. Natasha noticed the blood on Tony's armour.

"I-Is that?"  
"Darcy's blood." Tony mumbled, dodging the Hulk and pulling Maria with him to the hole in the wall the Hulk had created, she pulled out a sidearm and waved it at the man that was incredibly emotionless despite the situation he was facing.

"What do we do about that thing?"

"I can answer that." Maria turned and found Nick had jumped the distance from the helicraft to the building and he barely just made it, scrambling in he could only watch as the helicraft flew away, getting one last glimpse of Thor before the cargo hold shut.


	15. Unleash the Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick, The Avengers and a burning building. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I love you all, here's the third update of the day for this story! Three updates in one day! A new record!  
> Sorry if it seems a little rushed, action wise

The building started falling and crumbling faster around them now; the Hulk still wouldn't give up fighting this amazingly insane man who stood there, deflecting his punches with his arms. Not once did you hear the sound of a bone crack or a scream of pain or a beg of mercy (usually none of the Hulk's victims lasted this long) - and yet, he stood there as if the Hulk had met his match - but he clearly hadn't. The man never retaliated, he never spoke and he never looked at anyone. He just kept deflecting the Hulk's punches whilst being pushed against the walls, feeling the sensation of a monster screaming in his face in sheer frustration.

"HULK WILL PUMMEL YOU!"

Any normal person would be on their knees, trembling and crying like a fool; but not this man. The other Avengers watched as the Hulk continued the endless charade of attack and defend-and they knew the building would come down at any moment.

"What the hell is going on, Fury?" Tony asked as he threw himself and Maria on the floor, Fury shortly following as a gas canister exploded overhead, he accidentally rolled close to the broken floor edge before Maria grabbed him and all three of them stayed in the corner of the room by the hole in the wall, watching as The Hulk pushed his enemy further round the corner and down another hallway, occasionally you could hear a bang and a thud here and there and Tony guessed it was metal railings or a fire extinguisher being thrown at someone, only to be deflected.

"HULK WILL CRUSH YOU!"

Tony sniggered, almost debating on whether or not to follow Bruce just for the hell of it when suddenly flames erupted in front of them and Tony pushed Maria further into the corner of the hallway.

She covered her mouth with her ripped uniform sleeve and started coughing, watching as the floor beneath The Hulk started to give way, The Hulk didn't care and carried on roaring and thrashing about and Fury noticed this too, looking around he could find no means of escape other than the holes in the walls created by Thor and Bruce and he stumbled, watching the lights flicker and die leaving the fire and the holes (it was still daytime outside) as their only sources of light.

"Well, Big Daddy-" Tony playfully mocked Fury "What now?"

Fury stared at him, almost considering shooting Tony in the face even though he had his Iron Man helmet on but instead he turned to look for the others through the fire.

Steve and Natasha were still by the Clint-shaped hole in the wall on the other side of large hallway when the fire that was consuming the building decided to creep across the floor slowly as if to nibble at their feet like they were its prey.

"Get out of here, go!" Nick yelled at them through the fire "Go now, if you jump you can make it. We'll be fine don't worry. We'll follow you out through our end; you can meet us on the streets below." He felt Maria tighten her grip on him as even more of the floor decided to give way.

Natasha and Steve turned to see Clint holding out his arms.

"Tasha, I will catch you, I promise." Natasha smiled, turning to Steve who nodded and like out of the Ubisoft video games called Assassins Creed, she performed a leap of faith into Clint's arms. When she was safely on the ground Clint looked up at Steve, grinning like a cheeky schoolboy.  
"Want me to catch you, too?"  
Steve snorted and jumped out the window, landing perfectly next to Natasha and mock-saluted Clint as he ran away from the burning building.

"Asshole!" Nick could hear Clint fade into the distance and he knew they were a safe distance away.

"Well my plan is screwed, no thanks to this burning building and you lot, oh well we got Darcy…" Nick muttered turning to Tony and Maria next to him.

"What was the original plan, sir?" Maria asked, the smoke was getting thicker now and she started coughing harder and she loosened her grip on her boss.

"It doesn't matter now-"Nick coughed too and pushed Tony towards their hole in the wall where Thor's hammer had first burst through. "Jump. Jump now or I push you both and break Stark's face."

Tony gasped in horror.

"Not the money-maker!"

As Tony watched Maria jump and join the others who he could faintly see beyond the barred gates in the big, wide car park connecting to the streets, he turned to face Nick.

"What about Bruce?"  
"He'll survive." Nick stated, pushing Tony in his suit out the hole in the wall and then followed suite as he heard the Hulk roar as he fell through the floor as it finally gave way and the col, emotionless man finally spoke only one simple line.

"I will find you!"  
Then the building exploded and Nick could honestly say he'd never ran so fast in his life, collapsing in Maria's open arms as he was out of breath and the gates were flung open by the force of the explosion.

Steve whistled as he watched the explosion rise high into the sky, before Clint asked Nick why he had come. He never said anything for a moment as he was still out of breath, but then he slowly pulled out his personal information pad from inside his jacket and passing it to Maria who passed it to Tony.  
"Everything…you need to know… is on there. That's why I came, to warn and tell you-"and he pointed at the explosion "Let me tell you, he's going to survive THAT."

Nick could hear the Avengers gasp as they read the information.  
"That's why they needed Darcy…"Clint muttered, passing the pad to Natasha who passed it to Tony and he studied it long and hard like he was a pre-school kid just learning to read.

"Bruce is going to be pissed." He said bluntly, watching as the building burned the sound of the police and fire trucks not too far away. "So who wants to drag Mr Naked Boy out of that?"

"The sooner we wake him, the sooner he sees Darcy." Maria replied, all of them advancing on the building as the fire had literally died out as quickly as it consumed the building.

"I'll go to the store to get the clothes…" Clint groaned, turning on his heel and leaving the others to it.


	16. The Mad Dash ToThe Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce, The Avengers and a hospital.

When Bruce Banner awoke, he was surprised to find himself fully clothed and he probably figured Tony or someone had got the guts to pull them on him.

Like all times as The Other Guy, he could only remember bits and pieces of what happened and as his memory was vague, he cringed at the thought of what he could have caused... Then he looked around wearily and found himself lying in what could possibly only be described as a mountain of rubble and he groaned, being stupid he could tell what he had done but decided to ask anyway…

"What-What happened? " he asked out loud, soon finding Nick Fury and his other team mates staring at him, some wore concerned faces while others smiled briefly at him.

"You survived a burning building, Doctor Banner." Nick replied, extending an arm out for Bruce to take and helped pull him up. "The bad guy got away but that doesn't matter now, for once it really doesn't matter. We need to get out of here."

Bruce looked around at everyone again and that's when he noticed Thor wasn't among them and yet he could have sworn he was earlier, scratching the back of his head he couldn't help but casually ask the others about him.

"Where's Thor?"

"At the hospital." Steve replied, smirking as Bruce tried to get his head round this and then he grew wide-eyed.

"Thor is a god from Asgard, another world Steve. Surely he would survive the Hulk-"

Then it hit him and he started running for his life, he scrambled over the rubble, pushing pieces out of his path as he ran through the car park and into the streets, he could hear the others not far behind him and it seemed Clint was turning the run into a race between himself and Natasha.

Bruce never once looked over his shoulder to look at his team members; he just kept on running in time with the beat of his heart pounding in his chest and the sound of drums ringing in his ears.

"Never seen him run like this before." Clint laughed, out of the corner of his eye he could see Natasha running in time with him, like they were both synchronized and every now again he would reach out with his arm and give Natasha a playful shove but she never lost her balance and pushed him back, the two acting like pre-school children having fun.

"Well wouldn't you, say if Natasha was in hospital?" Steve retorted, almost tripping over his own feet as he ran with Maria, feeling the hot breath of Fury on his neck and the ever moaning Tony at the back of the group.

"Point taken!" Clint yelled, slowly slipping his hand into Natasha's own and kissing her on the lips momentarily before pulling away, Natasha was speechless but smiled and continued running, the both of them sped up, the only two capable of keeping up with Bruce at this current moment in time and the others felt like they had set themselves on fire as they doubled their running speed just to try and keep up with them even though they couldn't.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you were working at a hospital in the middle of the day when a group of superheroes plus an agent and a guy with an eye patch burst through your front doors, you'd probably end up having a heart attack from fright or die on the spot from shock. However this hospital had got pretty used to seeing them around and already knew why they were here.

The receptionist pointed in the direction of the waiting room in a sheer matter of seconds.

"Your friend is in there, I suggest you wait until a Doctor or Nurse comes to see you."

They said their thanks and Bruce could feel his heart brutally beating his ribcage and was relieved to see Thor was sitting in the waiting room for them and he looked okay injury-wise but the expression on his face was grim and that made Bruce gulp in fear.

"You made it, Banner." Thor greeted, he still sat in the chair and would not look at Bruce and instead looked at the wall in front of him, to say Thor had not known them all long you could see he was on the verge of tears and they couldn't tell if the news were good or bad.

"How is she?" Bruce asked hoarsely, his hands starting to tremble and he could feel the strong supportive hands of Steve rest on his shoulders as if to calm him, yet he knew far too well it was not working.

Thor rubbed his eyes and rested his hands in his lap before he finally looked up at his standing team mates.

"They're still with her, my friend. Due to her injuries and the trauma of what has gone on, they say she is in what you people call a 'coma'. It could be days before she wakes up- Maybe even weeks. "

Bruce's face fell and the Avengers gasped, Steve tightening his grip on him but Bruce collapsed into a chair next to Thor, his hands flew to his face and he looked down at the floor, unable to take this all in and he could feel the tears burning through his eyes like wildfire. He felt dead inside and he couldn't find any words to say and it was Clint who asked the next question for him.

"And the baby?"  
" You have a baby girl, Bruce. A 3 months early baby girl."  
Everyone snapped their heads up and saw Jane holding a tissue to her face, clearly she'd been crying. Pepper stood behind her and she extended a hand towards Bruce.

"She's a fighter Bruce, just like you. Want to see her?" She asked, her own voice slightly faltering now and she smiled briefly at her boyfriend Tony Stark before turning her attention back to Bruce. "If you want, Jane and I can come with you."

Bruce slowly nodded and the Avengers watched as their friend followed the two women down the hallway, all of them rendered speechless by the news.

"When should we tell him about the stuff on the data pad?" Tony asked, receiving a glare from Natasha and Nick, who both turned their heads towards the door at the end of the hallway again.

"In time, we have time. He has enough on his plate at the moment and if we tell him anything else it'll destroy him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, please don't kill me for this chapter!  
> I'd like to stress that I tried to get the next chapter as very realistic as possible so it can be very distressing and I tried to tone down how graphic it was. So please be careful if you find it hard to read about a baby in an incubator.
> 
> I can tell you now I'm still writing the chapter as I started it last night but had to stop halfway through as I literally couldn't stop crying and I've never wrote anything like it before. So please be patient, I'll try get the next chapter up as soon as possible


	17. Pep Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Banner gets a pep talk from Pepper...

Bruce had seen documentaries on situations like this before, he'd read newspaper articles and reports on some people's experiences and to be honest, they weren't exactly pleasant.

If you'd have asked him about having kids 5 years ago, he would have laughed and said "Who could ever learn to love a beast like me?" And continued hiding in the shadows, always trying to throw somebody off his trail. But nothing was ever easy for Bruce in this crazy-ass world and in some ways he wouldn't change it and in some ways he would.

So that's how he found himself standing outside the double doors to the intensive care unit for babies, through the window he could see the nurses working around someone, possibly his own daughter and it scared him to look. He turned to look at Jane on the left side of him and she smiled reassuringly.  
"Go on, they know who you are so they'll let you in. We're right behind you."

Bruce smiled weakly and knocked on the door; the nurses looked up and smiled at him briefly "Come in."

As much as he wanted to turn on his heels and run, Bruce found Pepper pushing on his back, making him proceed further into the room and he couldn't believe the sight before his eyes as he got closer to the nurses at the other end of the room. He kept thinking of Darcy and how she was, how she would be in this situation but she was currently on life support and Bruce felt like he was being torn in two. Part of him wanted to join Darcy, part of him wanted to stay here.

It was so tiny, small, pink and wrinkled. It looked more like a tiny skeleton with too much skin over it than an actual person. Its eyes were not open, and it had little tuffs of black hair but had no nails. The fingers and toes looked more claw-like than anything else. The baby lay there, hooked to machines, enclosed within an airtight plastic box. The nurses had to work through specially made holes in the side with gloves built into the box.

Tubes ran into the baby's stomach, throat, and nose. A catheter had also been inserted and Bruce almost felt the sick rising up in his throat and he turned to see Jane reaching out for him.

"You don't have to, but you can put your hands through into the gloves and touch her. " Jane looked to Pepper "I'm going to go see Darcy. You alright on your own here with him?"  
Pepper nodded and turned her head to Bruce as Jane left, watching as the nurses nodded at him and he started shaking, before he moved his hands and arm into the gloves.

"I can't believe it Pep…look at how tiny she is."

He tuned out at what Pepper had said because as he looked down at the tiny frail body in the glass cuboid he could feel his past coming back to haunt him. You see, Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic physicist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated the child. An alcoholic, Brian was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son. Brian abused Bruce and finally murdered Rebecca and was placed in a mental hospital. Bruce internalized his great pain and rage over his childhood sufferings and looking down at his daughter, he was too afraid that he would do the same to either her or Darcy and it became too much for Bruce to bear and he left the room, almost collapsing against the wall as he fought back tears knowing his daughter would have to stay in the incubator for many weeks as she developed and it made him angry at the thought of Darcy having to watch this if she ever woke up.

Pepper ran and crouched down beside him and she looked at him with sad but reassuring eyes.

"Everything will get better Bruce, you'll see. She's in good hands..."

Bruce shook his head, running his trembling hands through his hair.

"I-I put them where they are now; both of them. I cause too much destruction and pain than I do good Pep and I-I shouldn't do this to her anymore. I can't just sit here and watch this happen before my eyes. I caused this; it's my fault they are where they are now."

He tried to stand, his head telling him run and his heart telling him to stay and he didn't know what to do. Lost in his own thoughts he didn't feel the tears tart to freely fall down in his face and a soft hand wiping them away.

"Bruce...Bruce look at me. Look at me." Pepper's voice was wavering too now and Bruce looked at her, she could see hints of Green in his eyes. "You need to stay strong for the both of them, okay? I- I know it's hard but you have all of us and the hospital are going to look after her. Both of them are fighters, Bruce. They know they have you. Don't blame yourself for all of this, for ANY of this. There is so much you are refusing to acknowledge and accept. I know it's hard for you; believe me I do. But please, you have to understand that no matter what happens, no matter how long it takes, we WILL be here for you… The stress isn't good for you, for anyone. I-I don't know if it's bad to tell you this but I looked at your files a while back… I know about Betty. I know about everything that's happened in your life and I understand you're scared but the Bruce I know; the Bruce we all know and care about is a lot stronger than this so you better get on your feet and march yourself to your wife's beside and you better pray to the gods that she wakes up and if you dare- you dare go green in anger and try to run, I swear I will use her tazer on you and march your sorry ass back here…" Pepper laughed a little before continuing "And hey, you still haven't given your daughter a name. Thought of any?"

Bruce actually smiled for a moment as he got up. "Did I just get a Pep talk?" Pepper smiled at him before continuing. "Yeah… Yeah I thought of a name."  
"Well?" she looked at him smiling as she held out her hand and she began to walk with him down the hallway to show him to Darcy's room.

"Ivy. Ivy Rose Banner."


	18. The Data Pad Info Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the stuff on the datapad revealed

When Pepper re-joined the others in the waiting room, she was met with a warm and supportive welcome. All the Avengers, Maria and Nick formed a circle with the chairs in the huge waiting room of the hospital as if they were all in a secret huddle, all of them clearly wanting to know how Bruce had handled things when he first saw his daughter.

Tony pulled a chair next to Pepper and sat beside her, one arm over her shoulder in a loving hug and he reached out with his other arm to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"You okay, Pep?" he asked

Pepper smiled at him before turning to the others who were eagerly awaiting her response.

"I gave him a 'Pep' talk after he almost hulked out –"Pepper could hear Natasha gasp in horror but she continued "ALMOST hulked out, but I calmed him and he's currently with Jane at Darcy's bedside. "  
Tony decided now was the time to interrupt his girlfriend with the question everybody was thinking,

"Has he thought of a name yet for the kid? I mean we can't exactly go round calling her 'The Littlest Avenger, can we? Please tell me they named her Antonia or something along those lines. Because we all secretly know that's like, the best name ever."

Pepper shook her head, laughing at her boyfriend's remark as he got slapped by Natasha and Pepper continued with what she was going to say.

"Yeah, he thought of a name. Ivy Rose Banner." The comment was met with warm smiles and Pepper could tell everyone liked the name; she could hear Tony sulk and moan that Bruce didn't name the kid after him but received a kick to the shins by Natasha but Pepper ignored them both.

" I don't know the full extent of what has gone on today between you lot and I know some of it I can't know due to the whole 'Top Secret, Classified' sort of crap but what I do know is if Darcy doesn't wake up- New York will most definitely fall. Nobody will be able to stop him and it's heart-breaking to think of what we'd be like in his situation."

Pepper watched as Clint and Steve ran their hands through their hair, whistling in sheer thought of the amount of destruction Bruce could easily cause and Thor looked away from them all, deep in thought about something.

Tony looked long and hard at Fury who proceeded to sigh and reach into his jacket to bring out his data pad again, pausing to stare menacingly at Pepper with his one good eye.

"Miss Potts, what you are about to read is very important, classified and it is VITAL you do not breathe a word of this to Bruce, at least not yet. Do you understand?"

Pepper nodded and grasped the data pad with two hands as it was passed to her. She tapped at the screen and it lit up, she stared at it in horror and couldn't help but read the information out in a hushed, horrified whisper as her mind raced with scenarios of how Bruce would react if they told him at this current moment in time and his current state.

"The Super Adaptoid was created by the organisation called A.I.M using a piece of the Cosmic Cube. This cube was believed to have been destroyed at an abandoned storage warehouse in West Virginia. However, A.I.M got their hands on it and started experimenting, wanting to try and harness its power but another experiment, code-named M.O.D.O.K went insane. The whereabouts of the remaining pieces of the Cosmic Cube are unknown. The Super Adaptoid was built to duplicate and harness superhero powers, specifically it was programmed to target the Avengers as a way for mass destruction to be unleashed on the entire world-"

Pepper looked up in horror, Nick could tell by her face she wanted to ask questions and he decided to carry on for her.

"Due to the dangers of gamma radiation and how it can affect people, they thought it would be better to gain the Hulk's qualities in a different way to what it usually does by observing and silently drawing their superpowers from them for quick duplication."  
Natasha grunted, tucking some of her hair behind her ear and slipping her arm under Clint's own, watching as Pepper finally pieced it all together.

"Bruce wouldn't let them do anything to him, let alone get his DNA as he knows how dangerous The Other Guy is… That's why he needed Darcy. For the baby. It would experiment on her and get the baby strong and old enough before he could successfully extract some blood…"  
Tony drew his arm back from around Pepper to his side and leant forward, adding the final piece to the puzzle.

"But it never got the chance and it won't stop until it finds us. Specifically, Ivy. It's going to find us and it won't stop until it gets what it was programmed for. He would adapt his systems to the blood and be able to use the Hulk's incredible strength and other abilities to his free will without being the whole huge guy thing. That's why it could easily deflect his punches, because it learned from us- Thor could easily deflect his punches, we all know that from when we all first came together during Loki's attack and it must have learnt through training, through videos-"  
"Which are being destroyed as we speak. Whoever A.I.M is, they came well prepared and well planned." Nick added, nodding and Pepper passed back the pad, placing it back in his jacket for him and he straightened up as Thor jumped to his feet, heading for the exit of the hospital.

"Thor? Where are you going?" Steve asked, turning his head towards him.

Thor stopped in the door-way and looked at his team-mates with a serious look on his face.

"I cannot just sit here and watch Banner waste away, waiting for his critically ill wife to wake up I'm going to get help for Darcy and I'm going to bring someone who can also help plan AND protect Darcy at all times. I know just the person and it might take a lot to persuade him but if he has come to his senses he will help us. We need all the help we can get, my friends."

They all nodded slightly confused but amazed at Thor's comment and commitment to helping his friends. Clint went to ask what he meant but his questions were answered not even a minute later when you could hear Thor yell "HEIMDALL!" followed by a rumble of thunder and lightning which quietened as quickly as it came.

"Oh my god, he's gone to get Loki." Tony whispered


	19. Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki, the library and the Allfather

Loki was sitting in the palace library when the memories came flooding back to haunt him. In time he had come to realise who he was and why his adoptive parents had hidden the truth from him, yet he knew it broke them watching him dance between the fine line of good and evil. He was the god of Mischief after all but he hated the fact that deep down, he was sorry for everything he had said and done and wanted to show his family he were sorry but every time he looked at them, it was like he was consumed with rage that took over him completely and as the things he said raced through his mind, he had to grip onto the table and wait for the vivid memories to pass.

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's GUSHING red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than you will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer... PATHETIC! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away! I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you! Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear! And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is MY bargain, you mewling quim!"

"You're a monster!"  
Loki could hear himself laughing inside his head.

"No, you brought the monster."

Loki could feel his legs give way and soon found himself hunched over the table, gasping for breath. The woman was right, after everything he caused all for a little revenge, he WAS a monster. All he wanted was for people to love and adore him, kneel at his feet and practically worship him. Yet he was too blind by rage to see the people who loved him, that always believed in him and never gave up on him, were his family all along. If only he could ask for a little redemption, something that he could give back to the ones he called his parents and tell him he loved them and he was sorry; but he knew far too well what he did was wrong and he knew his punishment he had finished carrying out not too long ago was justice to what he had done but now he was thinking, was it enough? Should it have carried on? Another memory ran through his head now, this time of a conversation between himself and the Allfather.

"So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me?"

"Why do you twist my words?

"You could have told me what I was from the beginning! Why didn't you?"

"You're my son... I wanted only to protect you from the truth..."

"What, because I... I... I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?"

"No! No!"

"You know, it all makes sense now, why you favoured Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!"

Loki stood up after this memory passed and put the book down to reach to a shelf beside him to reach for another one when it was just his bloody luck that the guards came crashing through the front doors, requesting that he go to the throne room at once.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Loki found himself yelling as he was dragged out of the library, the doors closing behind him.

"Father, he will be under my watch I swear of it –"  
Thor turned to look at the door as his brother was brought into the throne room, they looked at Odin who quickly nodded and dismissed them before the doors closed and silence fell between the gods in the throne room.

The God of Mischief glared at his 'father' and then turned to his brother in disgust. He knew he was happy to see them but it's like there were a piece of him still angry at them for what they did to him and what caused him to practically go off his rocker in anger.

"What are you doing here, Thor? Shouldn't you be on Midgard, Protecting those pathetic beings you love so much?" He turned his gaze back to Odin. "Why have you summoned me, Allfather? To what do I owe the pleasure?" His voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

The old man motioned to Thor.

"Your brother's friend requires help. Thor believes you are the only one who can help her. From what he's told us, she is in a dangerous state of health. If you-" Odin was cut off as Loki protested.

"Are you really that ignorant? Why would I help those puny humans? Do you really think they would accept my help after all that I have done? If I go back there I'd be wrestled the ground and have stupid mortal weapons that have no effect on me and then they'd tie me to a chair and interrogate me on why I did what I did. Which by the way, I got enough of from you. Just without the chair and more chains and my mouth sown shut."

He shook his head in disbelief. How dare they ask him to go back to Midgard! Were they really that stupid after all they knew he had done?

Odin stared him down, his gaze so intense Loki finally had to look away and he continued with what he was previously saying.

"If you help this girl, it will mean your freedom."

His words hit Loki like a brick wall. Was he serious? If he helped this woman, it would mean his punishment was over? He knew he didn't deserve this; after all, he was a monster. The God just stared at Odin, mouth agape in shock.

Beside him, Thor gasped. "Father, do you mean it? You'll let him go?" He was just as shocked as his brother.

The old man nodded. "I think it would only be fitting. Your mother and I have discussed it before. Yes, Loki. If you do this, you will be free to do what you want."

Loki cast a glance at Thor, who was grinning ear to ear. With a sigh, he said,  
"It may not be a good idea, but I will do it"

Then fear struck Odin's heart and crossed his eyes, he looked at Thor as he finally took in the information his son had passed onto him

"Did you say the Cosmic Cube?" he asked

Thor nodded and Frigga reached for her husband's arm.

"Go with them, I will look after the kingdom."

Odin hesitantly sighed before turning to his two sons.

"I'll explain on the way why I'm coming, but we must hurry. We don't have much time by the sounds of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know shit's going down when Odin gets involved!  
> Chapter written with good friend 3twhfangirl163 from Fanfiction.net where this story is also at


	20. Arguments in the Waiting Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The waiting room of the hospital gets more interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter written with the help of CaribbeanTrinidadian from Fanfiction.net

There were a lot of things in his life that Nick Fury had seen, he saw all kinds of weird shit every-day and his agency was the secret that was well kept in the government. So when the Norse god of thunder and his adopted brother the god of mischief steps into the waiting room, he knows he has to keep an eye on things…

Until he gets a shock when he notices they are accompanied by their father, the All-father himself, Odin Borson. Nick knows his day is about to get even shittier, or in Tony's words; more interesting.

The Avengers Initiative had gone off without any minor set-backs, only a few arguments, but the team knew how to work together. The Chitauri incident had allowed him to realize that his superiors had no qualms to incinerate an entire city with a nuke. Had it not been for Iron Man, and he would deny if later if someone had asked him that he was thankful for the fact that Tony Stark never listened to him and had actually saved the entire of Manhattan, Nick actually looked up to the man. Though the only one who he would probably listen to was his long-time girlfriend and secretary who was now CEO of Stark Industries.

Thor walked towards him, dragging a reluctant Loki behind him, Odin, was a little shorter than it by only two inches if he had to guess, he turned to Loki, who found the colour of tiles on the floor very interesting, his eye narrowed dangerously and Nick advanced towards him, Loki winced at the tone of Nick's voice. It was as foul and menacing as it were last time he had heard it.

''Move one toe out of line, and I will not hesitate to punch you in the face, god or not.''

Loki merely scowls, crossing his hands in front of his face, Odin shoots his son a look briefly and then turns to Nick, he reaches out with his arm to form half a handshake; Nick joined in then pulled away.

'My name is Odin, King of Asgard. I deeply apologize for the inconveniences I have caused you and the rest of the Midgardians; it was not my intentions to do. You see I am the one that had sent the Cosmic Cube here to Earth about a year or two ago, thinking it would be safe here. Clearly I have been proven wrong and I will do anything in my power to help. My boys are the same, Loki is here to redeem himself and I can assure you I will not tolerate it if he does something stupid, especially under my watch. First we must deal with the mortal woman Thor told me about. What is of the current situation? Where do we stand?"

Fury motions to a few extra chairs and begins to brief the gods; they sit down and listen intently. Loki can't help but feel the Avengers eyes staring straight at him even though he is not looking at any of them but Nick and his adoptive brother, who is whispering to their father.

Loki can feel the tension in the air and the hushed whispers in another language to someone else and he knows its Natasha speaking to Clint. From the corner of his eye he can see Clint draw out his bow, his fingers twitching to aim an arrow straight into the back of the mischief maker's head. Loki calmly turns and he chuckles a little as Natasha hisses at him and he advances towards them, Steve ready to jump between them if necessary.

"I… I just want to apologise Barton." Loki says, turning to Natasha "And to you too."  
"Why should we believe you?" she hisses instantly. "That's the oldest trick in the book, you dumb bastard. Do you really think-"  
A full escalated bicker broke out between the Avengers and the gods and Odin silenced it as quickly as it started  
"ENOUGH!" he roared, silencing everyone. "This isn't exactly the best place to be arguing and we HAVE come to HELP you. So even if it kills me, I will have order here. Do you understand?"  
He looked around the room and found Tony trying his hardest not to laugh and Pepper punched him. Nick stood stone cold, actually agreeing with everything the god had said and then continued briefing Odin, bringing Loki into play.

Clint settled his bow at his feet when he was sure he was calmer than he was, Natasha still continued whispering Russian words into his ear to comfort him, probably over the fact that she knew he was still pissed about Coulson. He still couldn't get over the fact Loki had so easily mind-controlled him, attacked the helicraft resulting in many casualties…But the weight of carrying Phil's death on his shoulders was still too much to bear for him, even though Natasha told him it wasn't his fault.

"Let's do a head count here: your brother the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and YOU, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki turned to Thor, he sounded confused as he spoke.

"Thor, you told me on the way here that Lady Darcy is married. But you didn't tell me who to."  
None of the Avengers, the two agents, the CEO of Stark Industries and the gods noticed a man in the hallway staring at them, his hands clenching together to try and calm him.

"That would be me, Puny God. What the hell are you doing here and what the hell is going on?"  
They all turned, horrified to see Bruce standing there.

"It's just our luck…" Stark groaned.

Loki stumbled backed into his father, clearly terrified; muttering things at the speed of sound.  
"Y-You?" he finally squeaked, turning his head to Thor he added "I'm fucked."


	21. Finale!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The finale! Yes I decided to end this way because I felt like it would drag onto the action we could save for an entire new story but please leave a review including suggested names for the next story that will carry on this adventure! This chapter is short, so I apologise

The Avengers had no choice to explain EVERTTHING to Bruce and after an hour of being told this, getting introduced to Odin, Loki having his say and Bruce being saved by Pepper from Hulking out, Bruce finally agreed to the crazy ass plan everyone had. Though that didn't stop him from turning to Odin and threatening his son.

"If anything happens to my wife, I will not stop until I tear your son apart."

"Trust me, I would let you." Odin chuckled, watching Loki hide behind Thor as he was clearly terrified.

Odin motioned to the nurses that were walking in and out of rooms.  
"First we need to distract them."  
Natasha and Maria smiled "We got this."

In Darcy's Hospital Room, 10 minutes later…

Bruce stood over the silent and broken body of his wife in the hospital bed, slowly running his fingers through her hair, kissing her forehead and listened to the sound of the machines keeping an eye on his wife's comatose state. His heart felt like it was giving his ribcage a beating and he found it hard to breathe, tears threatening to blur his vision.

From the corner of the room Loki watched silently before approaching him.

"Bruce, if I may?"  
He looked up silently, nodding and backing away slowly as Loki started chanting an old spell that sounded quite ritual-like and Bruce could hear a roar inside his head as a blue light enveloped the room and he covered his eyes, shielding himself from the light. It died as quickly as it came before Loki smiled, turning.

"It is done."

Bruce instantly rushed over to his wife's side as Loki joined his father and the Avengers outside, looking through the window into the room. Bruce caressed his wife's cheek again, resting his chin softly in her hair.

"Darcy, I don't know...I don't know if you can hear me but I fear what I might become without you, you balance me. Without you I fear I would sink deeper into this madness- no, this monster that resides inside me, you keep my need to go after revenge in check. I need you more than anything in the world..." His hand slipped down to caress her cold, lifeless face. "We have a little girl Darce, we have a baby girl...she's so tiny… She's fragile, just like you and me... and they're going to look after her like they're looking after you right now. Just don't give up on me please. Just think of our little girl Darce... think of Ivy Rose..."

As he's saying this he can feel The Other Guy trying to break free and he closes his eyes, desperate to get control. This goes on for a few minutes before he felt a hand struggling but finally rising underneath him and rested on his chest as he tried to turn away to the door

"I needed my Doctor...and I got him."

He opened his eyes in shock and her brown eyes met with his.

"Come here, you." she smiles at him and pulled him closer, her lips crashing against his and for once, Bruce never pulled away. When Darcy did, she could see Loki and Odin through the window. "Did they-"

"They saved you Darce. They're going to help us find whoever took you and -"

Darcy smiled evilly at Bruce

"Well then, you better bring me up to speed because there is no way you are leaving me out of this. I may not be able to do much but there is no way- This concerns me and Ivy and- Wait, Ivy? You mean our daughter? Can I see her?"

Bruce laughed and Darcy watched with content as Jane and Pepper hugged each other, waving before turning to their respective partners. Darcy looked at Bruce,

"She's in an incubator isn't she? Bruce I have so much to ask and I know we're in trouble-"

"It's going to be one hell of a ride, Darcy." Bruce simply stated, slipping his hand into hers. "Are you ready?"

Darcy smiled at him

"Hell yes, just get me out of this hospital and I'm all yours."

Bruce laughed and kissed his wife again before she looked up at him, amused.

"So, I hear you're going to be working with the guy you smashed into the floor"

Bruce cheekily smiled behind him to Loki in the window  
"That's if he can handle it."

"Handle The Other Guy? I think I have yet to introduce him to my taser!"


End file.
